There is something addictive about the Dorset coastline, I just can’t get enough. It always surprises me with its twists and turns and steep promontories. Continue reading “To Old Harry”
To Old Harry
Category: Places
Wind Comb
Another type of Comb. Not the hollow in the hills of Combe, sheltered from the wind, but here is a place to witness the wind. Eduardo Chillida’s Wind Comb. Three steel sculptures anchored to the rocks at the western end of San Sebastian bay. There are also some quite effective blow-holes beneath the pavement. Continue reading “Wind Comb”
Near Beachy Head
This series of landscape studies has been painted entirely on location. They are all painted from the same viewpoint near Beachy Head in East Sussex and are sections selected from the panoramic view. They are a direct response to what I saw and the experience of being in the landscape. Continue reading “Near Beachy Head”
Get It Away
David Byrne was in town recently staying at Artangel’s A Room For London, in a boat perched on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank. Whilst he was there he made some field recordings, the result of which can be seen here, along with lots more on this extraordinary website.
Spring Blossoms Umbria
Spring Blossoms Umbria 2011 was started last year after visiting Orvieto again. A fine meal at L’Etrusca followed by a long walk into the fields surrounding Orvieto kick-started this one. In some ways it is a little different to the others in that it has a sense of being “in” the landscape as opposed to looking at a place from a distance. Looking through trees onto fields has created interesting tensions between flatness, illusion, realism, abstraction, pattern and surface. Although I will continue to make paintings of places there is something very interesting happening in Spring Blossoms Umbria. Continue reading “Spring Blossoms Umbria”
Le Picodon
Continuing our goatee season, we dedicate this post to the most notable Picodon, a spicy medallion of crusty goat’s cheese, whose delights are celebrated each year at Saoû in France. The younger cheeses are mild and elegant but the more mature they are the more piquant they become, ideal with a glass of Cotes du Rhone Villages. Blessed are the cheesemakers. Most are also goat farmers which means they don’t make large quantities, so Picodon is a rare cheese, hard to find outside of France. Continue reading “Le Picodon”
Trip To Birkenhead
A few weeks ago my wife and I spent a few days in the Wirral to see pictures I had in the annual exhibition of the National Acrylic Painters Association in the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead. I was so pleased with the hanging of my work and so impressed with the beautiful gallery, a truly local gallery so well looked after, away from all the razzamatazz of the Tate Liverpool etc. across the Mersey. Continue reading “Trip To Birkenhead”
St Cirq Lapopie
This beautiful butterfly cut-out was made by Joseph Silcott from a vintage Michelin map of the Dordogne and Lot river valleys. The central butterfly at the top with the green body features St Cirq Lapopie. Others display Rocamadour and Cahors. Joseph simply draws with scissors to release the butterflies from the map. Continue reading “St Cirq Lapopie”
The Wave
A spectacular Navajo sandstone formation, known as The Wave, at Coyote Buttes in the Arizona desert, south west United States. This place is difficult to find, there are no signposts and it is accessible only by foot. The picture is from Eyewitness, a series of often remarkable photographs on the Guardian website. I was reminded of it by Liz Somerville’s image at the end of yesterday’s post.
Dorset Landscapes
On Sunday I went down to Roche Court near Salisbury to see John Hubbard’s Paintings From The 1960s. They are beautiful atmospheric condensations on canvas and paper, displayed in a small light filled gallery in a corner of a garden overwhelmed with sculpture. This tranquil space is a refuge and standing before Rocky Woodland especially I was in a green shade reminded of the undercliff at Lyme Regis. There’s a lot to see. But I was not allowed to photograph it. So I will make do with some we framed earlier, for another exhibition, but one I now discover has just finished! Continue reading “Dorset Landscapes”